Homemade Tomato Soup

Ingredients

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of butter
0,5 decilitres of chicken stock
4 tablespoons of tomato puree
2 cans of chopped tomatoes (800 grams)
5 fresh basil leaves
0,5 teaspoon of sugar
Salt and pepper by taste
Add milk after blending (to soften the flavour)

Making Homemade Tomato Soup

Finely chop the onion and the garlic and add it to a casserole with melted butter. Cook the onions on low heat until they soften. Add chicken stock (I used a stock cube diluted in hot water) and whisk it in together with tomato puree. Pour in the two cans of chopped tomatoes as well as roughly chopped basil leaves. Let boil up and cook for a few minutes, add sugar and then salt and pepper by taste. Transfer the soup into a blender, alternatively you can use one of those hand/stick blenders. Blend until fine and transfer back into the casserole. I chose to add milk to my soup as I find that the tomatoes can be a bit rough on both tongue and stomach. I think I added about 1 deciliter, maybe more. Just add some, stir and taste, and stop when it tastes quite right for you.

Serve with boiled eggs, grated/cubed cheese, a spoon of sour cream and a slice of buttered bread.

Homemade Coriander Basil Pesto

Ingredients

One good handful of Coriander
One small handful of Basil leaves (ca. 6 stems worth)
130 millilitre Parmesan (ca. 52 grams)
Zest of 3/4 of one lime
Salt by choice (3/4 tea-spoon)
1-2 decilitres of olive oil
100-125 grams of Cashews

Making Coriander Basil Pesto

What I have noticed when making pesto is well that it’s dead easy, and how you vary it is just up to you. The basic ingredients, fresh herbs, garlic cloves, nuts and parmesan is all variable in sorts and size. This time I had too much coriander on my hands and a little fresh basil left on a winter struck plant. So I added both, coriander, with stem and leaves, and basil with just the leaves. I had cashews in the pantry and some grated parmesan in the fridge (I admit I sometimes buy the ready grated and as of yet I have not been able to distinguish the difference at least not when pesto is concerned).

I toasted the cashews lightly on the frying pan, medium heat you don’t want it going black.

Anyways I had a lime sitting in my kitchen window and garlic cloves to match. Coriander tastes brilliant with lime so that one was a given. I can’t quite remember the amount of garlic cloves, but I think how many you use will depend on your own taste buds, there is no rule against adding some more if you take too few in the beginning. The oil measure is again uncertain, as usual I didn’t take out a measuring cup. I gave it two good clunks, which might have been as much as 1-2 decilitres, what is important is that the pesto is not too dry. Add all the ingredients to a food processor (in my case I used a litre measurer and a stick mixer), mix well, taste season, add more of this or the other. Add to a clean jar and store in the fridge. You’ll be surprised how long it keeps.

Lemon Chicken & New Potatoes

Ingredients

New potato salad
10 small new potatoes
Grated sea salt
Grated Pepper
1 small table-spoon of butter
1 table-spoon of olive oil
1 hand full of thyme

Lemon chicken
1-2 chicken breasts
Grated pepper and sea salt
1 lemon slice (1/2 -1 tablespoon of juice)
4 basil leaves
Butter and oil for the pan

Make Lemon Chicken & New Potato Salad

Wash the potatoes well to get rid of any dirt. Boil the potatoes until they are cooked, check with a knife, if it slides into the potato without resistance it is ready. Drain the ready boiled potatoes and add them to a bowl. Pour over olive oil and add the butter. Use a pair of scissors to cut the thyme and grate sea salt and black pepper over the potatoes,  mix well. Serve with Bean and Radish salad.

The potatoes and the salad fit well with other types of meat as well. The second time I made this dish I made it with pork chops. I used thyme instead of basil and I didn’t use lemon. Rub, salt, pepper and chopped thyme onto the meat and fry it on medium heat in a mix of butter and oil.

Homemade 3nut Pesto

Ingredients

1,5 – 2 decilitres of olive oil
100 grams of mixed hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts
2 large garlic cloves
2 good handfuls of basil leaves
100 grams of grated parmesan
Salt and pepper

I love pesto, I just have to say, and nuts, I’m nuts about nuts. That is why I have combined the two and gone nutty so to say. The result is to put it mildly AWESOME. Ok, that is bragging, but I’m only speaking the truth :)

Making 3nut Pesto

Add the nuts to a food processor/blender and blend until it makes a fine mass. Add basil and peeled garlic cloves, and take for a spin. Add in the oil and the parmesan a little at a time, making sure it is liquid enough to blend proper. Add salt and pepper in the end and scoop into a sterilised jar. Keeps for 1-2 weeks.

Serve on toast, with pasta, or add some to garlic bread.

Tip: Add the pesto to a nice jar and give it away with a bottle of wine, sure to make a friend happy.